We talked to Midnight Sun Outfitting at the Sheep Show in Reno last Jan and proceeded to book based on reference from one of our clients, one of our guides, and the fact Larry Potterfield was going with them (we stupidly assumed this was good enough). Our main target was grizzly with moose and caribou secondary. We were to be hunting horseback together in the same camp. We started our discussion with Jessie Young and then were passed on to Logan Young, the daughter and son of Alan Young. Our original dates were Sept 1-12...we were later put off to Sept 22 because Logan indicated that the Larry Potterfield group (mid Hunt) would have moose gut piles to hunt griz over. Sounded legit....

We explained to Logan we had a problem with the dates as we needed to be back in NM by the Sept 29 as we had our own hunts beginning bigtime Oct 1. Logan indicated he might be able to work on the dates with us. We finally got word from him to come on and be in Dawson on the 18th or 19th and we would get into camp. To his credit, he did indicate there was some risk as due to weather. I saved his last voice mail to remind me of how upbeat he was about our coming and that this would be a great hunt.

Called the base camp about 3 weeks out to reconfirm plans with Logan, got Jesse, asked for Logan to call. Called again 2 weeks out and left a message....no return call, called 4 days out and got Alan Young only to get the indication he was not real happy with our plans but would TRY to make it work.

Finally got to base camp where Alan was none to happy to see us. We asked about our situation and he indicated we were to be split up going to separate camps, no horses and no moose hunting. WE WERE PISSED....told him we were told otherwise and that if this was the case, we wanted Great River Air back in the next day to get us home. He admitted there were communication problems between he and Logan on this hunt. He agreed and that we should discuss starting over as he never liked to book hunts like this....that we should have had Moose or Sheep as primary (bigger $) and then have griz and caribou secondary. We thought this was sounded ok and planned on going back out to the states the following day and start planning better for 2017.

Next morning...he indicated he had talked to Logan and that he, Logan, emphasized we wanted grizzly and that there was an 8ft bear on a moose kill at Elliot Lake and there WERE Horses there. He said you should go and kill the bear. My partner and I agreed we would give it a try....at least one of us would have a crack at a bear. As we were flying in we saw a great bull moose about 2 miles from the lake just begging to be hunted.....but no moose tags for us as promised. Remember these were part of the package deal we were supposed to have gotten. Salt in the wound.

We met the guides and actually visited with Larry Potterfield for a few minutes as he flew though. Our Guides were great but somewhat confused as to how this hunt got set up the way it did.

Saddled up the next morning to head to the moose kill. Great ride. Got set up and glassed the kill site. No activity, no birds no nothing. After sitting it, we decided to go see the site. THERE HAD BEEN NO BEAR ON THIS KILL, NO NOTHING. Still frozen as it was in the shade and nights were hitting 0. Whiskey Jacks had found it but ravens were no where to be found and the site did not even smell. Not even a wolf.

As we sat and discussed our situation one more thing came out to be the final straw. WE FOUND OUT OUR LICENSES WERE NOT COMPLETED CORRECTLY. They showed us as RESIDENTS. These were purchase by the outfitter. Biggest Bottom line, Alan lied to us about the kill site. Now we were really done....."talk about being set up to get the rest of our money".....we were totally deceived on this entire hunt. No horses, no moose, no hunting together. As we rode back to camp we decided that we needed to get positive about all of this. Surly the outfitter would see that we were not happy campers and would try to salvage something for us before we left. We gave him many opportunities....discounted hunt next year, refund.....something. NO DICE.

We gathered info on some of the major issues going on with Midnight Sun from the guides....Alan splitting the business to kids....and terrible communication among them. Talking with locals indicating issues with Midnight Sun as well.

As we pondered this deal, all we could do is look at the few positives. We saw beautiful country, met the challenges of getting in and out of the Yukon, and met some great guides. Stevie and Levi were great.

We would not recommend going with these outfitters to anyone. Not providing what was agreed upon and the lie about the bear on a kill were unbelievable. This outfit is VERY disorganized, they have poor equipment, and no reliable communication. AVOIDANCE is my recommendation. Should have gone with Blackstone......Our Loss

I will show some pics below. We did have some fun as the country was beautiful and we laughed a lot about how bad the whole ordeal was What else could we do?



Fun at the border



Made it to Dawson



Downtown Dawson



Downtown Dawson



Mike breaking a locals heart.....he told her that he was married.



View from Base Camp



Leaving Base Camp



Sheep on way to Elliot Lake



Horse reading book with Mike



Saddled Up going to supposed Bear on Kill Site



Riding out



Reality sets in....discussing options



Best and only Option....wait to get the hell out of there.



Mike, Levi, and Stevie



Visit by Game and Fish....Alan had called them to let them know about license screwup. They gave us the green light to hunt....too late



Wolf Track by camp

Am I wrong in assuming they required payment in full beforehand?

They had our deposits and collected the balance when we agreed to go out to the moose kill site with the 8ft bear on it!

Thank you for posting your story.
I have had a few of these kind of trips myself.

Getting this kind of information out to other hunters is a great benefit.

Unfortunately, it seems in these situations someone eventually will come on and explain how this was somehow your fault.

I hope that is not the case for you.
Best of luck in your hunting season this fall down in NM.

Thank you Coyote Hunter....

Thanks for sharing. Sad.

Ski+3

a shame about this story.

you should contact the Yukon outfitter association, Yukon and Dawson city chambers of commerce.

seems the grizzly story is a never ending story where outfitters are selling over what they can take.

they have a quota for each outfitting concession and every 3 years. a sow is 3 points where a boar is only 1 points. 3 sows and the quota is mostly over for the next 3 years ....

You're incredibly more magnanimous than I would be in this situation. I hate hearing these stories. Sorry you got burned by a scumbag.

terrible!

quote:

Originally posted by COYOTE HUNTER:

Unfortunately, it seems in these situations someone eventually will come on and explain how this was somehow your fault.

I hope that is not the case for you.

Ain't that freaking truth! Plain and simple there are some low down, lying, little shit stains operating in the hunting industry. And you can almost always find one of their dfenders on AR.

Once again thank you for writing these crooked jack wagons up.

I know Jim pretty well as I have hunted with him four times. He is the real deal and perfectly straight shooter. He knows the hunting business and is 100% honest. If he says this guy is a snake, then he is an anaconda with fangs.....

Jim,
Sorry to hear of your misfortune. At least you did not sign an 11 page hunt contract via some half baked booking agent absolving himself of any responsibility prior to your hunt. I believe Midnight Sun advertises in the Grand Slam/Club Ovis magazine. Send this information to them. However I doubt if Dennis Campbell and his cronies at GSCO will turn away from any advertising dollars via any shady outfitter in the Yukon or elsewhere.

File a report with The Hunting Report.

Thank you all for your comments. We are in discussions with Midnight Sun on a way to resolve the issues. Not sure if anything will happen.

larry-I have filed with the Hunting Report

Jim

Not that this means anything but I am fairly certain that someone from that company shared a cab with us heading to a restaurant at DSC this year . Glad I went to Alaska instead.

Makes you wonder if they were giving all their attention to Larry Potterfield; best areas, horses, active baits, etc.

Larry,
You're right. Once again your post doesn't mean anything

i too have hunted with jim - what he has posted i can assure was not embellished but true to a point. while these things do happen all the time it is indeed sad when it happens to good people like jim and kelly. hopefully the bums can become well known for what they are and then disappear

Jim,

any outcome since from the outfitter?

Phil

He offered to let us come back at a 20% discount. Ya....lets be stupid twice.....eh. We let the folks at Wild Sheep Fdn know. We really don't think he gave a rats ass. He will find more dumbasses like us and never feel a thing.

Sorry about your hunt. Thanks for posting. One more for the list